In an expression of deepening discontent and rising popular cynicism, a procession of dozens of Moroccans led by a nonchalant barebacked herd of donkeys walked, last Tuesday, the streets of Nador in northern Morocco to protest an upcoming communal elections fraught with broad-based fraud, violence, intimidation, and political manipulation at the highest levels of the government. The protestors shouted slogans and carried banners denouncing the unethical practice by the candidates and the parties they represent of buying votes with cash or in-kind services. It has been rumored that a vote goes for 500 MAD (56 USD) and will increase as election day nears. Some have sold their vote for nothing more than a loaf of bread and a cup of tea. The protest was meant as a parody of the democratic electoral process and governance in Morocco.
The U.S. Department of State lauded the government of Morocco in its annual report on terrorism published by the Office of the coordinator for terrorism. The strategic report, titled “
Have you ever walked into a room and could not remember why you walked in? I believe that is how Mrs. Yasmina Baddou spends her days at the Moroccan health ministry. Admittedly, the Moroccan health sector has been shoddy for decades. But a visit to Ibn Roshd, known as "Morizgo", in Casablanca, or any vermin infested public hospital - and private one for that matter - where destitute patients have to grease their palms to receive admittance into the premises and pay every step of the way to receive the medical attention the government ought to provide them for free, one gets a sobering sense of how declensional the state of our health care system is. Mrs.Baddou, whose judicial background hardly qualifies her to mend the budgetary and staffing ills of the Moroccan health care system initiated reforms that have been openly contested as ineffective by Moroccan health professionals. Her agenda has been criticized as being alienated from the health concerns of Moroccans.
The recent political rift between Morocco and Iran was long overdue. Morocco ‘stand, far from being reactive, is deliberate and pragmatic. It was based on clear indicators as to Iran’s malign intent vis-à-vis Morocco. Unlike other Arab nations, especially Middle Eastern ones which, by virtue of their geographic proximity to Iran, are compelled to deal with it, Morocco can afford to forgo relations with the Islamic republic. This is not the first time the two countries have an axe to grind with each other; in 1981, Tehran ceased its diplomatic relations with Rabat for hosting the deposed Iranian shah. It took a decade for relations to thaw.
When diluvial rains and heavy snows battered most of Morocco for weeks, the howling winds blew the cover on the fraudulent activities of government officials. Their nostrums dissolved transforming the already dreary and treacherous landscapes of rural Morocco into a death trap for many. While our politicians warmly spent quality time with their families in swanky homes surrounded by manicured front lawns and blossoming roses, Moroccans were treading water and trudging through mud to survive the collapse of their abodes.
At the behest of friends, I went to see “Taken” this weekend. The movie ranked second in the top box office list with a total of 20.3 million dollars. To me, that is a good indicator the American audience loved it. I saw the trailers, but I was not expecting more than a mindless action movie.
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The drum rolls did not sound; the disappearing act of democracy happened nonetheless. A vast majority of Algeria’s parliamentarians approved a ratification to the constitution that will bolster the powers of the septuagenarian current president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, over the cabinet and grant him an opportunity to seek a third term in the upcoming April election. Bouteflika has declined to state whether he will run for a third term. His recent approval of a substantial salary increase to lawmakers
A Country Of Flies And Demigods
- AHMED TAIBI
- 10/06/08
My nine years old niece, who is attending the CM2 (equivalent to 4th grade in the US), approached me and asked if I could help her understand a few concepts from her social studies book. She was eager to know what human/civil rights are, and as citizens, what our obligations are. I took her book and put it aside. I grabbed a magazine from the stack of publications I pile up by my desk once a week. The magazine was “nishan.” It had a picture of Yacoubi, moments after he shot and wounded Tariq Mouhib
AFRICOM Base In Tan-Tan , Morocco Confirmed
- AHMED TAIBI
- 10/06/08
(U.S. Marine Corps Photo by
Sergeant Justin Park)- The project to establish AFRICOM headquarters in Morocco, namely in the outskirts of Tan Tan, was not canceled; it became surreptitious. Morocco is still willing to host AFRICOM and the U.S. is serious in its consideration of Morocco, if not as a full-fledged home to the African command, as a regional command to a portion of the African area of operation (AO).
